Railway-track.



A. BOTTOM.

RAILWAY TRACK.

APPLICATION FILED 1230.15, 1909.

Patented July 26, 1910.

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ALBERT COTTOM, F CHILLICOTHE, IOWA.

' RAILWAY-TRACK.

ceases.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT COTTOM, a citi- V zen of the United States, residing at Chillicothe, in the county of Wapello and State of Iowa, have invented certam new and useful Improvements in Railway-Tracks, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention comprehends cer tain new and useful improvements in tracks lforrailways, and relates particularly to the v guite objectionable on account of their rapid 1mproved structure embodied in my prior Patent N 0. 861,269, dated July 30, 1907.

One of the objects of the invention is a track in which the rails are yieldably sup gg orted upon longitudinal cement stringers.

exposure to H of this character that consists of comparaby fire, the. parts tively few parts which embody to a marked degree the characteristics of simplicity, durabihty and strength, and which are not liable to injury by the weather or to destruction being capable of being easily and quickly assembled and requiring very little subsequent attention, whereby to materially decrease the cost of construction and maintenance of the track.

The track forming the subject matter of the invention includes in addition to the superstructure above mentioned, a particular form of road-bed that provides a rigid and efiicient support for the sections of the stringers upon which the rails are mounted,

the road-bed embodying means for preventingthe stringer sections from spreading apart thereon, so as to insure of the maintenance of the proper gage of the track.

' With these and other objects in view that will. more fully appear as the description proceeds, theinvention consists in certain constructions and arrangements of the parts that I shall hereinafter fully describe and then point out the novel features of in the nded claims.

P g or a full understandin of the invention and the merits-thereof an also to acquire a kn owledge. of the details. of construction,

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed December 15, 1909.

Patented July 26, 1910. Serial No. 533,241. 7

reference is to be had to the following de scription and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a sectional perspective View of my improved railway track; longitudinal section thereof; Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. at is a detail perspective view of one Fig. 2 1s a of the. clips; Fig. 5 is a similar view of one of the springs; and, Fig. 6 1s a transverse section of the road-bed, the section being taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

Corresponding'and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

In accordance with the present invention the rails l of the track are sluqported on longitudinal stringers that are constructed in a plurality of sections 2, the sections being spaced apart longitudinally at suitable ill-- tervals and, being disposed opposite to and in transverse alinement-.vith corresponding sections of the other stringer. The sections 2 are preferably formed of cement or some similar plastic material, andmay be reinforced, if desired, in any approved manner, as for instance, means of wires 3 that are embedded longitudinally therein.

Upstanding from the upper face of each of the sections 2 is a series of longitudinally alining pins 4. 'The pins are permanently secured to the sections 2 and for this purpose have their lower ends embedded therem in the process of manufacture thereof, the lower ends of the pins being bifurcated, as indicated at 5, and the bifurcatimis being deflected laterally, as shown, in order to obtain a broad bearing in the cement and thus insure against withdrawal therefrom. The pins of the series are arranged in three pairs, the said longitudinally at suitable intervals and the pins of each of the various pairs being substantially the same distance apart. The pins project upwardly "through apertures 6 formed at requisite points in a metallic face plate 7 which rests upon and is substantially coextensive with the upper face of the stringer sectionand which is held in position on such face by the pins. Spring bars 8 extend longitudinally between the upper ends of the pins of the respective pairs and are formed at their ends with slots 9 for the reception of such pins. The; end portions pairs being spaced apart sure, it being necessary to of the springs rest upon the metallic face plate 7 while the intermediate portions of the springs are bowed upwardly in spaced relation to the face plate, as shown the upper portions of the'springs being substan-- tially flat and being designed to support the rail 1. Attention is here directed to the fact that the slots 9 are elongated to afiord the ends of the springs limited longitudinal movement so that the middle ortions of the springs can yield downward y against the face plate when subjected to excessive press ace the adjacent pins of the pairs apart suflibiently to insure against the ends of the springs interfering with each other during such movement. It will be, of course, apparent that the springs afford a maximum ylelding action between the rail and the cement stringer, and are more eflicient than the wooden blocks heretofore employed for this purpose.

The railis secured to the end or extreme springs by means of clips 10 which are similar to the corresponding parts in the patent hereinbefore referred to. Each clip consists of a horizontally disposed base plate 11 ii idly secured to the flat upper port-ion oi: the spring and formed at its opposite sides with depending flanges 12 that embrace the cement sect-ion and lie snugly against the opposite sides thereof whereby to guide the clip in its vertical movement in the operation of the spring. Disposed at the upper face of the base plate 11 is a bearing block 13 which forms a support for the base of the railand which is provided at one side with tan integral hooked lip 14 fitting over the basal flange on one side of the rail. Spaced extensions 15 project laterally from the opposite side of the bearing block and are relatively shorter than the same and are formed". at their outer ends with upwardly extending stops 16 which have a hooked formation, as shown. Resting upon the ex tensions 15 between the stops 16 and the bearing block 13 and lying flush with the upper face of the latter is a longitudinal clamping bar 17. The clamping bar is formed upon its upper face with a railengaging member 18 substantially similar to and coiiperating with the lift 14 to clamp ,the rail securely in place. A wing 19 projects downwardly from the clamping bar and fits between the extensions 15 and is movable between the same when the clamping bar is rocked about a longitudinal axis preparatory to being removed from position. A clamping bolt 20 workstransversely through the bearing block 13 and is arranged to bear at itsextremity against the wing 19 to retain the clampin bar against rocking movement, so as to ho d the rail-engagingmember 18 in an operative posltion.

Between the clips 10 the rail rests upon a bearing plate 21 that is riveted or otherwise firmly secured to the upper portion. of the intermediate spring 8. In practice it may be necessary to interpose a filling block 22 between the bearing plate 21 and the corresponding spring in order to compensate for the thickness of the bearing blocks 13 and normally support the bearing plate flush with the upper surfaces of the said blocks to afford an even bearing for the rail.

The end portions of the bearinglplate'project longitudinally beyond the ling block and are arranged to rest upon the adjacent pins 4 upon the depression of the corresponding'spring, whereby the pins serve to materially reinforce the structure to effect the thorough distribution of strain.

Extending transversely between opposite stringer sections 2' and connecting corresponding clips 10 are the tie rods 23 that.

are preferablyround in cross section. Each of the tie rods is reduced at its ends to form stems 24 which pass through apertures 25 in the inner flanges 12 and which provide oppositely facing shoulders 26 engaging the The stems are accommodated.

vertical movement of the clips 10 upon the 7 operation of the s rings, the stems bein normally "held agalnst the upper walls 0 the openings to limit the uward movement of the clips under the influence of the springs. The tie rods not only connect the opposite stringer sections to maintain the proper gage of the track, but also tend to cause the corresponding clips 10 on the opposite stringer sections 2 to have a corre sponding vertical movement so as to :preserve the desired level of the track.

It is to be understood that the nuts 30 may be retained in adjusted position by any approved type of nut lock, but this object is preferably attained through the medium of the construction illustrated in the drawings in which the corners of the nuts are formed at their inner faces with grooves 32, one of which is designed to register at each quarter turn of the *nut with a vertical grc. ve 33 in the face of the outer flange 12. Keys 34 are inserted in the registerlng grooves 32 and cease?" the reception pared road-bed which is provided beneath the rails with longitudinal trenches 37 in which is packed suitable ballast 38, the ballast in each trench having .a concrete upper surface 39 and forming, in effect, a longitudinal foundationwall providing a smooth and substantial bearing surface for the sec tions 2 of the corresponding stringer to rest upon. The concrete surfaces 39 are formed along the outer sides of the sections 2 with upstanding longitudinal copings or abutments 40 which effectually maintain the superstructure ofthe track against lateral displacement, as is likely to occur on curves, the copings being spaced apart longitudinally at intervals, as shown, so as to 'provide an outlet for. Water collecting between the stringers. The longitudinal trenches 37 are connected at suitable intervals by cross trenches 41, the latter being provided for the reception of concrete 42 in which are embedded reinforcing elements 43 that extend into the main trenches in order to check any tendency .of. the longitudinal foundation walls to spread apart. a

Among the many advantages residing in a railway track constructed in accordance with my invention, attention is particularly directed to the fact that the metallic springs support the rails in a particularly etficient manner upon the longitudinal concrete stringers, while the metallic face plates serve as permanent bases for the springs and protect the stringers from thedirect impact thereof and from being worn away through frictional contact/therewith. F urthermo're,

by virtue of the general arrangement of the parts, the pins are relieved of excessive lateral strain whereby to preclude the possibility of splitting the stringer sections.

As a precautionary measure, longitudis nally split metallic thimbles 44 are sprung into position in the respective openings 27 in the cement sections 2 to protect the walls of said openings from frictional contact with the stems 24 of (the tie rods.

' Having thus described the invention what is claimed. as/new is:

, 1. In a railway track, the combination of a stringer, a vertically yieldable spring mounted upon the stringer, and a rail supporting member independent of the stringer the' stringer and and supported upon the spring in vertically spaced relation to the stringer.

2. In a railway track, the combination of a stringer, a leaf spring mounted upon the stringer and formed in its ends with slots, pins secured to and upstanding from projecting through the re spective slots, the spring being bowed upwardly intermediate of its ends, and a bearof t e spring and having its vertical movement limited by the pins.

3. In a railway track construction the combination of a stringer, a series of spaced springs mounted upon the stringer, rail clamping means supported upon certain springs. of the series, mounted upon another for supporting the rail mg means.

4. In a railway track construction, the combination of a stringer, a longitudinal series of springs mounted upon the stringer, vertically yieldable clips mounted upon the extreme springs of the series and com rising base plates and flanges depending from the base plates and embracing the stringer to guide the'clips in their vertical movement, a rail extending in the direction of the springs and resting upon the base plates, and a bearing plate mounted upon the intermediate spring of theseries for supporting the rail between the clips.

5. In a railway, track, the combinatio of a stringer, a vertically yieldable spring mounted upon the stringer, a rail supporting member independent of the stringer and yieldably supported upon the spring in vertically spaced relation to the stringer, and means for limiting the yielding movement of said member.

6. In a'railwa'y track, the combination of a stringer, a vertically yieldable spring mounted upon the stringer, a rail supportbetween the clamping member yieldably. supported upon the spring in vertically spaced relation to the ing plate supported upon the bowed portion.

and a bearing plate spring of the series,

stringer, and means for securing the spring 7 to the stringer, said securing means serving to limit the yielding movement of the rail supporting member. I

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence 0 two witnesses.

ALBERT COTTOM. F L. s.l Witnesses: Y i

H. A. BAKER, D. N. BIGGS. 

